NPPA asks stent makers to furnish pricing data within a week

The drug pricing watchdog stated that few companies still have not submitted the information and that some of them have not submitted the data according to it's prescribed format.ET Bureau | October 07, 2016, 13:01 IST

In a notice to around 25 companies, the drug pricing watchdog stated that few companies still have not submitted the information and that some of them have not submitted the data according to it's prescribed format.

NPPA is seeking information like the company's price to distributors, the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of the stent in 2015, the sales figures for the last 12 months and the year-to-year increase in the MRP between 2014 and 2016.

According to the notice, two companies—Medived and Sky Surgicals—have not submitted any data and at least 10 companies have submitted incomplete data. This includes Meril Life Sciences and Abbott India, which have only submitted the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) for stents but have not given the data in the prescribed format.

"All companies whose names are mentioned…are requested to take urgent action within seven days of issue of this letter and furnish the complete updated information as indicated in the annexures," stated the notice.

NPPA sent four reminders between January and June this year asking for information in respect of notified medical devices manufactured, imported or marketed by the companies in the prescribed format, according to the notice dated October 5.

The health ministry had included stents in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) in July 2016, classifying the devices into two categories—bare-metal and drug-eluting stents (DES). Absorbable stents were brought under the DES category.

Since then, the industry has been engaged in discussions with NPPA and the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) on the possibility of classifying stents according to various parameters and capping their prices accordingly. The department is expected to come out with a decision on this and notify stents for price control soon.

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